1974 California gubernatorial election

The 1974 California gubernatorial election took place on November 5, 1974. The primary elections occurred on June 4, 1974. Incumbent Governor and former actor Ronald Reagan retired after two terms. Democratic Secretary of State Jerry Brown, son of former Governor Pat Brown, defeated Republican Controller Houston I. Flournoy in the general election. This is the first election since 1958 to not feature a Republican candidate that went on to become a U.S. president. With Brown’s election, California had a Democratic Governor and two Democratic Senators (John V. Tunney and Alan Cranston) for the first time since the Civil War. This is the earliest California gubernatorial election to feature a major party candidate who is still alive as of 2024.

1974 California gubernatorial election

← 1970 November 5, 1974 1978 →

Nominee Jerry Brown Houston Flournoy Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 3,131,648 2,952,954 Percentage 50.11% 47.25%

County results Congressional district results Brown:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Flournoy:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%

Governor before election Ronald Reagan Republican Elected Governor Jerry Brown Democratic

Background

For the first time since 1958, the incumbent governor of California (in this case, Ronald Reagan) was not running for reelection, in either the primary or general election. This led to a pair of hotly contested primary elections. On the Republican side, Lieutenant Governor Edwin Reinecke ran against State Controller Houston I. Flournoy. The moderate Flournoy won a surprisingly easy victory over the more conservative Reinecke. On the Democratic side, there were numerous contenders for the nomination, including Secretary of State (and son of former Governor Pat Brown) Jerry Brown, Assembly Speaker Bob Moretti, and the mayor of San Francisco, Joseph Alioto. Brown ultimately won the primary, easily outdistancing his nearest rival Alioto.

Brown had statewide name recognition, benefited from the fact Democrats outnumbered Republicans in California, and maintained a lead in most of the early polls. Flournoy began to gain in the polls as the election approached, but Brown won, although by a much smaller margin than predicted. Coincidentally, when Brown ran for Secretary of State four years earlier, he defeated James Flournoy – no relation to Houston – in a very close election.

Primary results

Democratic Party

Democratic primary results^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Edmund G. Brown Jr.	1,085,752	37.86%
	Democratic	Joseph Alioto	544,007	18.97%
	Democratic	Bob Moretti	478,469	16.68%
	Democratic	William M. Roth	293,686	10.24%
	Democratic	Jerome R. Waldie	227,489	7.93%
	Democratic	Baxter Ward	79,745	2.78%
	Democratic	Herbert Hafif	77,505	2.70%
	Democratic	Alex A. Aloia	18,400	0.64%
	Democratic	Conie R. Robertson	11,493	0.40%
	Democratic	George Henry Wagner	8,955	0.31%
	Democratic	Jim Wedworth	7,973	0.28%
	Democratic	Joseph Francis Brouillette	7,906	0.28%
	Democratic	John Hancock Abbott	6,961	0.24%
	Democratic	Josephum S. Ramos	6,721	0.23%
	Democratic	Eileen Anderson	6,666	0.23%
	Democratic	Chris Musun	3,495	0.12%
	Democratic	Russ Priebe	1,427	0.05%
	Democratic	Scattering	1,349	0.05%
Total votes			2,867,999	100.00%

Republican Party

Republican primary results^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Houston I. Flournoy	1,164,015	62.96%
	Republican	Ed Reinecke	556,259	30.09%
	Republican	James Ware	36,784	1.99%
	Republican	Glenn Mitchel	31,518	1.70%
	Republican	J. F. Stay	29,297	1.58%
	Republican	William Nelson	22,597	1.22%
	Republican	Scattering	8,355	0.45%
Total votes			1,848,825	100.00%

American Independent Party

American Independent primary results^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	American Independent	Edmon V. Kasier	12,408	95.15%
	American Independent	Scattering	633	4.85%
Total votes			13,041	100.00%

Peace and Freedom Party

Peace and Freedom primary results^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Peace and Freedom	Elizabeth Keathley	2,111	28.06%
	Peace and Freedom	Lester Higby	1,855	24.65%
	Peace and Freedom	C. T. Weber	1,822	24.22%
	Peace and Freedom	Trudy Saposhnek	1,417	18.83%
	Peace and Freedom	Scattering	319	4.24%
Total votes			7,524	100.00%

General election results

1974 California gubernatorial election^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Edmund G. Brown Jr.	3,131,648	50.12%	+4.98%
	Republican	Houston I. Flournoy	2,952,954	47.26%	−5.57%
	American Independent	Edmon V. Kaiser	83,869	1.34%	+0.33%
	Peace and Freedom	Elizabeth Keathley	75,004	1.20%	+0.19%
		Scattering	4,595	0.07%
Majority			178,694	2.86%
Total votes			6,248,070	100.00%
	Democratic gain from Republican		Swing	+10.56%

Results by county

County	Edmund G. Brown Jr. Democratic		Houston I. Flournoy Republican		Edmon V. Kaiser American Independent		Elizabeth Keathley Peace & Freedom		Margin		Total votes cast[a][2]
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Alameda	200,165	60.15%	123,656	37.16%	3,588	1.08%	5,341	1.61%	76,509	22.99%	332,750
Alpine	185	44.90%	212	51.46%	5	1.21%	10	2.43%	-27	-6.55%	412
Amador	3,198	46.48%	3,483	50.63%	141	2.05%	58	0.84%	-285	-4.14%	6,880
Butte	17,007	41.47%	22,499	54.86%	859	2.09%	643	1.57%	-5,492	-13.39%	41,008
Calaveras	2,702	41.25%	3,709	56.63%	87	1.33%	52	0.79%	-1,007	-15.37%	6,550
Colusa	1,884	42.16%	2,503	56.01%	54	1.21%	28	0.63%	-619	-13.85%	4,469
Contra Costa	97,038	48.31%	99,470	49.52%	2,372	1.18%	1,975	0.98%	-2,432	-1.21%	200,855
Del Norte	2,149	51.60%	1,921	46.12%	54	1.30%	41	0.98%	228	5.47%	4,165
El Dorado	8,076	46.09%	8,922	50.92%	342	1.95%	183	1.04%	-846	-4.83%	17,523
Fresno	61,596	52.41%	53,308	45.36%	1,337	1.14%	1,277	1.09%	8,288	7.05%	117,518
Glenn	2,645	40.86%	3,675	56.77%	115	1.78%	39	0.60%	-1,030	-15.91%	6,474
Humboldt	22,805	58.66%	14,958	38.48%	319	0.82%	792	2.04%	7,847	20.19%	38,875
Imperial	9,033	49.04%	9,011	48.92%	203	1.10%	171	0.93%	22	0.12%	18,418
Inyo	2,417	41.54%	3,238	55.65%	106	1.82%	58	1.00%	-821	-14.11%	5,819
Kern	44,828	48.29%	45,775	49.31%	1,616	1.74%	621	0.67%	-947	-1.02%	92,840
Kings	7,444	52.11%	6,540	45.78%	163	1.14%	138	0.97%	904	6.33%	14,285
Lake	4,733	45.71%	5,381	51.97%	159	1.54%	81	0.78%	-648	-6.26%	10,354
Lassen	3,111	57.13%	2,165	39.76%	117	2.15%	52	0.96%	946	17.37%	5,445
Los Angeles	1,059,533	52.84%	898,808	44.82%	24,601	1.23%	22,223	1.11%	160,725	8.02%	2,005,165
Madera	5,584	51.17%	5,137	47.08%	124	1.14%	67	0.61%	447	4.10%	10,912
Marin	36,384	45.84%	40,619	51.18%	905	1.14%	1,456	1.83%	-4,235	-5.34%	79,364
Mariposa	1,658	45.28%	1,893	51.69%	66	1.80%	45	1.23%	-235	-6.42%	3,662
Mendocino	9,158	50.31%	8,373	46.00%	312	1.71%	360	1.98%	785	4.31%	18,203
Merced	12,779	51.89%	11,339	46.05%	318	1.29%	189	0.77%	1,440	5.85%	24,625
Modoc	1,395	44.16%	1,705	53.97%	41	1.30%	18	0.57%	-310	-9.81%	3,159
Mono	817	39.45%	1,161	56.06%	55	2.66%	38	1.83%	-344	-16.61%	2,071
Monterey	28,832	46.09%	32,218	51.50%	748	1.20%	764	1.22%	-3,386	-5.41%	62,562
Napa	15,200	47.44%	16,048	50.09%	441	1.38%	350	1.09%	-848	-2.65%	32,039
Nevada	5,225	41.00%	7,101	55.72%	249	1.95%	169	1.33%	-1,876	-14.72%	12,744
Orange	212,638	40.60%	297,870	56.87%	8,198	1.57%	5,090	0.97%	-85,232	-16.27%	523,796
Placer	15,744	50.50%	14,510	46.54%	566	1.82%	358	1.15%	1,234	3.96%	31,178
Plumas	3,031	55.77%	2,279	41.93%	66	1.21%	59	1.09%	752	13.84%	5,435
Riverside	70,515	47.93%	73,102	49.69%	2,115	1.44%	1,374	0.93%	-2,587	-1.76%	147,106
Sacramento	117,711	51.62%	104,595	45.86%	2,812	1.23%	2,934	1.29%	13,116	5.75%	228,052
San Benito	2,722	45.05%	3,199	52.95%	60	0.99%	61	1.01%	-477	-7.89%	6,042
San Bernardino	87,133	49.85%	82,611	47.27%	3,624	2.07%	1,413	0.81%	4,522	2.59%	174,782
San Diego	196,930	42.82%	249,444	54.24%	7,999	1.74%	5,501	1.20%	-52,514	-11.42%	459,874
San Francisco	136,896	61.81%	78,759	35.56%	1,806	0.82%	4,009	1.81%	58,137	26.25%	221,470
San Joaquin	38,429	45.69%	43,744	52.01%	1,284	1.53%	643	0.76%	-5,315	-6.32%	84,100
San Luis Obispo	19,429	47.82%	20,300	49.96%	394	0.97%	510	1.26%	-871	-2.14%	40,633
San Mateo	91,808	49.62%	88,235	47.69%	2,622	1.42%	2,361	1.28%	3,573	1.93%	185,026
Santa Barbara	42,221	45.99%	47,263	51.48%	854	0.93%	1,470	1.60%	-5,042	-5.49%	91,808
Santa Clara	166,760	50.63%	153,761	46.69%	4,628	1.41%	4,201	1.28%	12,999	3.95%	329,350
Santa Cruz	28,600	48.67%	27,750	47.23%	822	1.40%	1,587	2.70%	850	1.45%	58,789
Shasta	15,764	55.51%	11,716	41.25%	637	2.24%	284	1.00%	4,048	14.25%	28,401
Sierra	629	52.99%	513	43.22%	26	2.19%	19	1.60%	116	9.77%	1,187
Siskiyou	6,515	53.93%	5,229	43.28%	201	1.66%	136	1.13%	1,286	10.64%	12,081
Solano	24,955	54.43%	19,524	42.58%	591	1.29%	781	1.70%	5,431	11.84%	45,851
Sonoma	40,756	48.48%	40,339	47.98%	1,077	1.28%	1,898	2.26%	417	0.50%	84,070
Stanislaus	27,931	47.97%	29,186	50.13%	673	1.16%	430	0.74%	-1,255	-2.16%	58,220
Sutter	5,141	39.32%	7,642	58.45%	182	1.39%	110	0.84%	-2,501	-19.13%	13,075
Tehama	5,618	49.73%	5,373	47.56%	219	1.94%	87	0.77%	245	2.17%	11,297
Trinity	1,762	51.24%	1,519	44.17%	104	3.02%	54	1.57%	243	7.07%	3,439
Tulare	20,589	44.93%	24,103	52.60%	692	1.51%	440	0.96%	-3,514	-7.67%	45,824
Tuolumne	4,165	40.16%	5,952	57.39%	162	1.56%	93	0.90%	-1,787	-17.23%	10,372
Ventura	56,189	47.20%	60,122	50.50%	1,554	1.31%	1,184	0.99%	-3,933	-3.30%	119,049
Yolo	18,249	54.00%	14,734	43.60%	230	0.68%	579	1.71%	3,515	10.40%	33,792
Yuba	5,237	51.04%	4,752	46.32%	173	1.69%	98	0.96%	485	4.73%	10,260
Total	3,131,648	50.12%	2,952,954	47.26%	83,869	1.34%	75,004	1.20%	178,694	2.86%	6,248,070

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Del Norte
• Humboldt
• Imperial
• Los Angeles
• Mendocino
• Merced
• Placer
• San Bernardino
• San Mateo
• Santa Clara
• Santa Cruz
• Siskiyou
• Solano
• Sonoma
• Tehama
• Trinity
• Yuba

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Stanislaus

Notes

1. County totals do not include the write-in votes, which are only given as statewide totals in the Statement Of Vote

References

1. California Secretary of State. Statement of Vote Primary Election June 4, 1974. Sacramento, California. pp. 5–8. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
2. California Secretary of State. Statement of Vote General Election, November 5, 1974. Sacramento, California. p. 7. Retrieved July 21, 2024.